The Daily Brew noted that the Algo Centre Mall, a popular shopping centre in the northern Ontario town, looked like a "scene from a war film" after metal and concrete crashed down on unsuspecting shoppers, injuring 22 and trapping two people under the rubble.

Crews are working to stabilize parts of the wreckage before they try to reach several people still missing in the aftermath.

Aging infrastructure and weather damage is being blamed for both the Elliot Lake disaster and the Gardiner Expressway crumble.

These are just the two most examples in a spate of dodgy Canadian structures.

In 2010, pedestrians along the jam-packed Yonge and Gould St. corridor stood horrified as the wall of an old building cascaded onto the street.

And while old age can't be blamed in this case, patrons who attended the opening day ceremony of a Burnaby, B.C. supermarket in 1998 will likely remember how it collapsed mere minutes after the festivities began. Twenty people sustained injuries in the melee.

Though John Bryson, a manager of Toronto's structures and expressways, said the Gardiner is structurally sound and in good shape, he told the Star that the city is mulling over the idea of hiring an outside contractor to speed up the annual maintenance process.

First target: areas under the Gardiner that feature pedestrian sidewalks.

The question is, how many Elliot Lakes or Gardiner near-misses will be required before more drastic structural safety measures are taken?